March 15, 1999 – “World’s fastest truck” launched at Oakville

OAKVILLE, Ontario, March 15, 1999 – Ford’s Ontario Truck Plant in Oakville today began production of the SVT F-150 Lightning pickup – a performance truck with a top speed of 225 kilometres per hour (140 m.p.h.). The plant, which builds regular, Ford F-Series pickups, will produce 4,000 of the performance pickups annually during the next six years.

A group of Special Vehicle Team engineers cheered as the Job One Lightning was driven off the end of the assembly line by Plant Manager Charles Shortridge, accompanied by John Teixeira, CAW Plant Chairman.

Like other SVT vehicles, Lightning will be sold exclusively through some 620 specially-trained SVT-certified dealers in the United States and Canada.

The 1999 Ford SVT F-150 Lightning pickup was featured on the cover of Car and Driver Magazine in January. It was the first time anything other than a high-performance or luxury car had been selected as the magazine’s cover photo.

The new Lightning is powered by a supercharged and intercooled version of the award-winning, 5.4-litre, Triton„ V-8 engine found in the Ford F-150. This version produces 360 horsepower and 440 foot-pounds of torque. Lightning also features four-wheel disc brakes and four-wheel ABS.

“Lightning is like a Mustang Cobra with a pickup box on the back,” says John Coletti, SVT Chief Program Engineer. “It combines the strength and versatility of the best-selling pickup with the driving exhilaration of SVT performance.”